1874.] R. Banerji — Identification of Aboriginal Tribes. 9 



The Odras are the Uriyas, not of course the Brahmins, Karans and 

 other Aryan castes which have settled in Orissa, but an aboriginal tribe 

 whose representatives are found in the Or Chasas of that province. 



The Dravidas are identified with " the people of the Coromandel Coast 

 from Madras southwards, those by whom the Tamil language is spoken," 

 they are in fact still called Dravidas by all orthodox Hindus. 



Wilford regards the Kambojas as the 'people of Arachosia. Arrian 

 speaks of a country called Cambistholi ; as the last two syllables of the 

 word represent the Sanskrit, sthala (place), it evidently means the land of 

 Kamboja, (vide note, "Wilson's Vishnu Parana, page 182. Vol. 2). The 

 Kamboja country was famous for its horses. 



The term Yavana is now generally accepted as meaning the Greeks. 

 The Prakrita Yona is another form of Ion, by which name the Greeks were 

 known throughout Western Asia — but a difference of opinion on the subject 

 exists in some quarters. 



The Sakas are the Sakai and Sacse of classical writers, the Indo-Scythian 

 of Ptolemy. They " extended about the commencement of the Christian 

 iEra along the west of India from the Hindu Koh to the mouth of the 

 Indus." 



The Paradas were probably the Parthians — the Pahnavas, or Palhavas 

 according to some readings, were people of the country lying between India 

 and Persia, the modern word Pahlavi, the language of Afghanistan, retains 

 a trace of Pahlava. 



The Chinas were the people of China or Chinese Tartary according to 

 some authorities. 



The Daradas are the modern Durds — they are still living in the vary 

 same country' where Manu found them : their country lies along the course 

 of the Indus, above the Himalayas, just before it descends to India. 



The Khasas are the Khasyas of North-East Bengal. 



It is a noticeable fact, that these twelve tribes of Mlechchhas mention- 

 ed by Manu, all belong to the North of India and the North- West frontier, 

 excepting the Odhra and the Dravidas ; this shews that the aboriginal Kols, 

 Bheels, Gonds, &c., were unknown or very little known in Manu's time : the 

 last were reckoned more as giants and monsters (Rakshasas) than men. 



But to return to the Kiratas. They have been noticed in Book II, Chap- 

 ter III, of the Vishnu Purana, as a people living on the east of Bharata or 

 India, they were known to the Greeks as the Ceriadse. These foresters and 

 mountaineers are still living in the mountains east of Hindustan, and are still 

 called Kiratis or Kirantis. 



The bard of Sipra, Kalidasa, notices the Kiratas in his famous poem, 



